Special Membership Meeting: CU DemocracyIn Action?

RICHARDSON, Texas - (06/23/05) -- Community Credit Union had hailedits special meeting on its proposed conversion to a bank charter asthe $1.4-billion credit union's most widely publicized meetingever, and CCU officials pointed to the more than 36,000 ballotscast, possibly the most votes ever cast on an issue before themembership, as evidence that the CU had done as much as it could toencourage as much participation as possible in the vote to convertto a bank charter. But several members suggested the meeting onlyserved to underscore that most of the membership believed there waslittle point in attending the meeting. "We had maybe 150 people atthis meeting, and we usually fill this room and it's standing roomonly at our annual meetings," one member told The Credit UnionJournal after the special meeting adjourned. "This was nothing.This meeting was widely publicized because NCUA required them tonotify us three times. But this was all we could get here tonightbecause people already knew the mail-in ballots had already decidedthis vote." Even the cash incentives, the member suggested, weredesigned as much to keep people away from the meeting as toparticipate in the vote. "They always have incentives at the annualmeeting, but you have to actually attend the meeting to be eligibleto win," the member pointed out. "Here, the cash was offered toanyone who voted, so as long as you voted, you're eligible, whetheryou showed up or not.